The Irish standard., 1887-02-05
WHA.IvS In Il pUhNAmn !?
Wonderful Specimens Which Sug-
gest and Defy Definition.
A Novel Plan for Simplifying the Directo,
ries-The Probable Origin of q Number
of English Names, and Thoughts
Suggested by Them.


ries-The Probable Origin ola Number
of English Names, and Thoughts
Suggested by Them.
Leisure Hour.l
IT instead Of a name every child on enter
7 hy the world were assigned number, the
plan would have many features to recon-
mend it. Directories would be simplifed;
there would be no chance of confusion With
tWcnty-four Mrs. Joneses in one place, and
to address a letter you would have nothing
to do but write on the envelope. say, ''No
g, ,243, 159, ESQ.," But with these manifest
advantages there would be considerable
loss When Juliet said: "What's in
name!" she talked, as lovers often do, at
random. Her speech to Romeo Montague
is beautiful, but it is not logic. She was,
indeed as any one with critical eye can
see, in the surangest confusion alb aut tho
difference between a Christian and q sur
name. That Romeodid not correct her on the
| instant can Only be accounted for by the
fact that he himself was not in q tit state OF
mind for playing the Instructor. There is
a greaJ deal in surnames. What gllmpses
OF old life they sometimes give us: they are
little bits Of history: revelations of human
interest; scraps Of poetry and hunor:
notes Of affection, ridicule, sarcasm and
Mnpcltinence; often stories condensed into
a single word. A large number of sur
names consist Of the fathers name with the
addition Of ''son, y Or an equivalent Tor son,
like Mac or Fit2. 'Nanes CT this sort often
t1uctuate from generation to generation,
Alan Waterson for example, had son Wal
ter. who called himself Walter Alanson.' u
Other names are purely local in origin,
T3fG md
Wood and Heath. Among local names we
may also include Hunt, Cornish, Wiltshire,
Dcvonish, ireland, Welsh and such like.
Granville may be classed among local
names. 1t is told that Lord Lyttleton once
disputed with the head Of the Granvilles
which was of the older family asserting
his own to be of the more ancient, mas
much as the little town must necessarily
have existed before the grande vile.
Offices, occupation and condition gave rise
to other names. Thus we have Smith, Cook,
Shepherd, plowman, Knight, Coroner
(Cnrone), Archer, Singer, Justice
Provost, Dresser, Chapman, Barbour
and q host more. The s.!1'nanes
OF occupation form wonderful
guide to the Industries of our forefathers
Those WHO kept shops or INNS got sur
na;ues from their signs, a practice which
oruer John at the Bell became John Bell
Thomas at the Rose became Thomas Rose,
Oliver at the Ihorne became Oliver Thorne
ard Nicholas at the Sparrow became
Nicholas Sparrow. A large class Of names
is devoted to the description OF personal
appearance, manner and character. We
tl!a outward peculiarities Indicated in an
immense number, such as Longman, Short
man, S1nallman. Big Little, Thick, Thin
Shorter Stro3. ger, Black, White and
Brown. Mental characteristics have given
rise TO such su1names as Good, Patient,
Wise, Gay, Sage, Blythe Merry, Make
peace, Grave, Sweet, Proud, Meek Hum
bic and Jolly. People who reminded their
neighhors Of birds, beasts, fish and insects
have transmitted to their descendants
| many surnar1es Of which examples may
be seen in our collection. Not a few
:usd character have evidently been orig
iuaLiy nlckna1nes; Cruikshan!z, Glntton,
Peunyfather Tor miscr), for example. DC
| caslonAl}y. as in vlae case Of sswiidler,
tho name has All air Of ''givng a piece Of
OF one,s III :n,'.'' The frequency with
which particuit., names are met with varies
with the locality. In Scotland the
-, ality of some is particularly
we'll defined We have Mac
Donald, MacKenzie, Robertson and
Stewart IN the North; Scott, Kerr, Elliot,
Johnson and Maxwell! in the South; Cor
q, II. Forbes, Grant and Oyilvlein the East,
and Campbell, Cameron, MacLean and
Kennedy in the West t'Ihis arlses from
the e:lansmen having made a practice of
taking the name Of their chiefs and consid
erng themselves members Of their family
by adoption, if not otherwise" There are
In ;yF FuC 1yx,},j
pear never to have crossed the border
Among those of which England may thus
claim to have a monopoly we find Church
yard, Deadman, Scamp, Swindler, Goto
bed, Slaughter, Startup, Twentyman, ALI
! bones, Littleproud, Fudge, Puddle and
Wl!dblood. The most prevalent surnanes
in Scotland, according to George Seton, are
Smith, the name Of every person in every
siSty-one; Mcdonald, one in seventy-eight
Brown, one in eighty-nine; Robertson, one
in nuety-one; Campbell, one in ninety two;
Thompson. one in ninety five. and Stewart
one in ninety eight. ''One person in every
twelve in Scotland" says Mr.. Seton, twill
answer to cne OF other Of these seven
namcs.,' The Smiths in England and
Wales are calculated to be about one in
every seventy three of the population If
we take three common names of Smith,
JOilcS auu w jALldulo, OiiS ijol SO1l LIZ ClVSACJ-
eight will answer to one or other Of them.
Life with good number is a struggle
at the best, ana the success that at
tends us is Influenced more than peo-
pie sometimes think by the names we
bear, Even the sound of q name is
of consequence. "Harsh names," says
Isaac Disraeli. twill Lave: in spite Of all
our philosophy, a painful and ludicrons
effect on our ears and associations For
man to inherit an absurd OF Insignificant
name is to have stone tied around mis-
neck in childhood to keep all his life in the
depths of obscurity. 1t would be difficult
to find famous character in literal ture,
art or any thing else with q surname at
least approaching in character to, say.
Toothaches, or Bang, or Baby. Who could
fancy d Squib or a Gable visited at any
time By the inspirations Of genius! John
Wilkes expressed this idea once in conver.
sation with DR.. Johnson. They we're speak:
ing OF Elkanah Settle, the last Of the city
poets. ::There is something in names,"
coiI IV;Il-ac ityyrnich oy7, not hpin feel